Soothing Touch
by dfriendly
Summary: Gwen and Arthur lie in bed one hot summer night.


**Title: **Soothing Touch  
**Creator: **dfriendly  
**Type of Submission: **fanfiction  
**Prompt: **C-26) Gwen/Arthur, touch  
**Rating: **T  
**Warnings: **fluff  
**Summary:** Gwen and Arthur lie in bed one hot summer night.

For Gwen Battle Summer 2009 at thefuturequeen community on LJ.

llllllllll

Night was no escape from the insufferably hot summer Camelot was experiencing that year. And everyone conceded to the heat, the castle falling into a tired lull.

One couple took refuge in the respite, being allowed to make love without risk of interruption. Their bodies moved slowly, each succession indulgent as sweat-slicked skin slid against each other until they were finally driven to ecstasy.

After taking a minute to recover, Arthur rose from the bed.

"Are you thirsty, Guinevere?"

"Parched."

Arthur walked over with the goblet of wine he'd just poured and handed it to her. Once she drank her fill, she handed it back for him to refill it and drink himself before slamming the cup back down on the table.

He turned, admiring having a naked Gwen lying in his bed, head propped on a pillow and hands folded delicately below her breasts.

Normally, he would have crawled back into bed and pulled himself up close to her body. But it was much too hot for that.

So instead, Arthur made a slow motion dive onto the bed, his hands running across the sheets as he sank down. He finally came to resting his head on Gwen's stomach, face turned toward her feet and his body perpendicular to hers.

"It's impossibly hot," he moaned.

Gwen's stomach moved pleasantly underneath him as she sighed. "Yes, it is," she replied wearily. "Although, you didn't seem to mind so much a few minutes ago."

"That's because of what we were doing," he said pointedly.

She said nothing, but he was sure that if he turned his head to see her, she would have been smiling.

He felt her hand lightly thread through his hair, her fingers running over his scalp pleasurably.

Arthur closed his eyes and sighed contently. "I like when you do that."

"Hmm?" she asked absentmindedly.

"When you stroke my hair like that."

Gwen stopped her fingers and laughed. "I guess I don't realize when I'm doing it."

He hummed when she resumed. "Well, it's nice. Very… soothing."

A few minutes passed before he repositioned himself so that he lay on his back, face turned in her direction. He said nothing, only smiling at her.

"What?" she asked.

He shrugged and smiled wider. "Nothing."

Arthur reached out for her left, unoccupied hand and placed it over his heart, fingers intertwined with his.

"I like this," he said finally.

Gwen arched an eyebrow.

"Lying here with you," he continued. "I wish it could always be so uncomplicated, so undemanding. Instead just spending all my time like this… with you."

Gwen smiled softly. "It would be nice."

"Of course, we'd have to take breaks every once and awhile to make love," he said cheekily.

"Yes, I suppose we must," she laughed.

Arthur continued to smile, even after he closed his eyes. Soon his grin slacked and the hand on hers relaxed, but Gwen kept stroking his hair as he slept.

Eventually, she knew she had to leave. So she slipped out from under him, carefully holding his head and replacing her body with a pillow. Arthur did not wake at her movements; how deep of a sleeper he was always surprised her.

She dressed in silence, her clothes alarmingly unpleasant in comparison to the comfort of nakedness in the heat. It only tempted her further to strip them away again and lie back down on the cool sheets with Arthur.

But she couldn't.

So with a last brush of fingers over his fringe and a gentle kiss on the side of his mouth, she was gone.

---

Arthur drifted half awake in the middle of the night. His hand reached up to what was under his head, reaffirming that it was no longer Guinevere's body.

He sighed. Even though he knew she had to leave, it always disappointed him.

He considered righting himself in bed so that his legs didn't hang awkwardly off the side. But that might also disrupt the illusion that Guinevere still lay with him.

Closing his eyes again, he recalled the feel of her soothing touch on his scalp and smiled.


End file.
